Is this Thrush? Help Please!!!

coreteam1

coreteam1

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My horse had been going well until recently when I noticed he was 'very' lame on his off hind. I couldn't find anything so gave him box rest for a few days, two weeks previously he had an abcess so I thought it may be another!? The lameness didn't improve so I called the vet.
The vet (I wasn't able to be there so was told this info) picked up his foot and stuck his finger into the cleft area of the frog and said 'he has thrush'. He advised that I add bleach to water (diluted so you can just smell the bleach) and clean his feet, he didn't treat him or give me anything for him. I have no sense of smell so am unable to tell you if it was smelly but my sister said his feet smell no differently from anything else on the yard?
I spent the next few (2days) days doing as he said but feeling that bleach may not be the bset thing as it can kill living tissue?
Anyway....My horse came sound for about 3/4 days but looked lame again yesterday. I have been using hibiscrub every evening when he comes in, drying them and adding Kevin Bacon hoof solution every two days. He is turned out for approx 7hrs a day in a dryish paddock (certainly no thick mud) and gets MSM Cream applied to his frogs/feet before going out.
I have always picked out his feet and can't imagine a horse being so lame from Thrush unless it's been severly neglected which my horse most definitely has not!??
I have had many horses, and have come across Thrush many times BUT I have NEVER come across a horse so lame with this condition, how many of you out there have had lame horses due to Thursh?
Tonight I have gone through the same foot care routine but I'm still not convinced and think it may be an abcess. The farrier is coming tomorrow to take a look, then if he can't find anything I will get anotherr vet.
I would just like to now what your thoughts are on lameness and Thrush.
Thanks
 
Thrush is an infection which affects the frog. The horn decomposes and the black debris collects in the clefts. Has a horrible smell. Maybe if you have no sense of smell you wouldn't have noticed and it may have penetrated the sensitive tissue causing the lameness.

Keep us posted after the Blacksmiths been. Hope your horse is better very soon.
 
I've seen horses being lame with thrush before but it's been extremley bad. From what you've said i doubt if it is thrush. I've came across many a vet that'll say "it's thrush" when they can't find the problem. Watch out for another abcess. My friends horse frequently gets them for some reason but can take weeks to come through. My thought is that it's another one waiting to surface that has probably something to do with the last one your horse had. Hope this helps x
 
I've seen hundreds of cases of thrush (used to work in riding schools before the flood where ponies stood in stalls, lots of deep litter beds, and just now have a pony who is prone to it because of foot shape) I use hydrogen peroxide on it.
But I've never seen one lame, as you say it'd have to be awfully bad. All those riding school ponies in the dim and distant were not treated with the reverence now thought necessary - they weren't neglected, but a squirt of hydrogen peroxide about twice a week was the norm, and they all stayed sound! And though you don't have a sense of smell, one would think your farrier would have mentioned it before now.
If it weren't a personal question, I'd ask which side of sixty quid you were charged for these words of wisdom!!!
 
Lance is prone to thrush, he used to get it VERY bad until the last couple of years,because of deep clefts, it never once made him lame, and he lives out in a muddy field.

The last 2 years I havent picked his feet out every day in winter, only when riding, and it has helped greatly.

TBH it doesnt sound like your horse has thrush, if your sister has told you that they dont smell, Lance's stink when he has it, and if he was lame because of thrush I would expect his frogs to be totally eroded away.

Im sure you farrier will be able to shed some light if it is foot related.
 
Horses can be lame from thrush, but in my experience it has to have been lingering for quite some time - untreated and resulting in a really really bad case.

Id get the farrier to look at it and depending on what he says, get the vet back out.
 
WE had this with my friends horse and everyone said it was thrush, his hooves were a little smelly but not so bad it would make him lame. The YO poured hydrogen peroxide on his hooves and he really objected to it. He was not lame on solid ground though only rough ground. The farrier had a look when he was out a couple of days later and it was a small cut on his heel from over reaching. The rough ground was digging into it and the hydrogen peroxide must have been agony for him. Anyway he was fine within a few days
 
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The last 2 years I havent picked his feet out every day in winter, only when riding, and it has helped greatly.


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Can I have a show of hands on this theory? I'm interested because my ponios have had their feet picked out every day this winter, as they are on a much drier field. Last year it was just about impossible, they were up to their hocks in mud and our main worry was mud fever.
This year, guess what, we have two and a half cases of thrush!
So should I not enforce my strict regime of foot picking out? They are on light, sandy, well drained soil, bit muddy in the gateway, out days, in nights, and walk across a road and down a concrete yard in both directions, thus giving them chance to knock their feet out a bit night and morning. However, the sandy soil does get right in there, and doesn't dislodge that easily. None of them are shod.
Opinions please?
If I don't get many, I shall start a new thread, specially, so apologies if you get all this twice!
 
Well the field mine are in is like this now:

DSC01876.jpg


And they are living out. it has ever been this bad.However Lance doesnt have thrush!
When he used to come in and have his feet picked out daily and washed etc, he used to get terrible thrush, black goo in feet, frogs a mess.

Not a trace since I stopped picking them out daily.
 
Funny that, the hoof picking thing. I only pick Tarquin's feet out when I ride him and he has no problems, the horses at work get their feet picked out every time they leave their box and even those that are out in the field for most of the day get thrush.
 
My horse got thrush last year for the first time.

This year I'm only picking her feet out when riding and she seems much better, although there is a very slight smell from one of her back feet.
 
my shetland has never had thrush and she can go a week without picking her feet out, my cob on the other hand... needs them doing everyday, he has shallow feet, shetland has boxy feet, bizzare really!
 
Our neds rarely get their feet picked out unless working - no thrush so far *touches head...erm...wood*

I would suspect (OP) that the abscess has not cleared thoroughly. Let's see what the farrier says though
 
Thanks for everyones reply. I think the general consensus is that not many horses go lame with even severe thrush.
Well today I got the farrier out and the moment he took off the shoe there was black pus coming from a nail hole. So it was an abcess after all. Poor horse has been suffering for so long!! But he must have the cleanest sweetest smelling feet in Nottingham!!!
Shortly before Chirstmas he had an abcess which on that occasion the vet diagnosed. Funny thing is he's never had an abcess before but I since found out my farrier has changed his make of shoe and is now buying foreign shoes. Another farrier has mentioned something about the holes in the shoes being different somehow?
The lesson I've learnt this time is to judge my instinct and I will be changing farrier
ooo.gif
 
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